Halo: Drop into Hell
by Cybermat47
Summary: Novelisation of Halo 3: ODST. After being rendered unconcious in a ODST drop, the Rookie wakes up in the ruined city of New Mombasa. Now, he must find his squad and get out of the city, with only the help of the malfunctioning Superintendent A.I., and one of the few surviving marines trapped in the Covenant-occupied city.
1. Prepare to drop

_UNSC 'Say My Name' in low Earth orbit, 1634 hours, 20/10/2552_

The Rookie snapped awake with a yell. Bleary eyed, he looked at his assailant with raw fury. "Wake up buttercup." _"You'd expect a sniper to have _restraint_," _the Rookie thought bitterly. Another ODST, Dutch, pushed past the sniper. "Relax Rookie, he don't mean nothin'. Besides, Now's one of those times, it pays to be the strong silent type." Dutch handed the Rookie a M7S SMG. "Thanks mate." The Rookie snapped it into his pod, beside his M6C/SOCOM. The pod's doors closed, and it was rotated until it faced the outside of the cruiser. Two screens snapped on, showing Gunnery Sargeant Buck and a woman who the Rookie recognised. _"Good to see she's still living," _thought the Rookie. Buck finished talking to Captain Dare. "Pucker up marines! I sure as hell ain't hosing out your pods!" The pods dropped from the cruiser. The Rookie gripped his controls. "Shit."

The pods burst through a cloud layer, and the Rookie could clearly see the city of New Mombasa, and the Covenant Supercarrier hovering over it. Then it jumped into slipspace, and the EMP rammed into the HEVs. The Rookie watched, horrified, as another ram slammed into his. He tried to keep his pod under control, but it was too much-


	2. Hell

_New Mombasa, Earth, 2054 hours, 20/10/2552_

The Rookie groaned. He slowly came to his senses, and watched as two Covenant Phantoms flew past his pod. The Rookie frowned. Either they were flying really low, or he was... "Dammit."

His pod had lodged itself in a building, about fifteen metres of the ground. The Rookie thought. He could either take his chances by jumping out of his pod, or wait for the Covenant to find him. Or perhaps he would be left inside until the city was glassed. There was no real choice. He primed the explosive bolts. They blew the front of his pod, and he jumped out. He landed heavily on the ground, groaning at the pain. He reckoned that he must have busted at least one rib.

He got up of the ground, holding his M7S. He could hear faint footsteps approaching. He hid himself behind a burning NMPD car, poking his head out. Slowly, a Covenant patrol came into view. There were three grunts, being led by a Brute. The Rookie frowned. He hadn't fought many Brutes, and the only ones he had fought had different armour. Still, they were getting closer. The Rookie drew his M6C/SOCOM, and took aim at the leading Grunt, a Major. He took a deep breath, then fired. The silenced pistol made hardly any sound as it fired, and the Grunt fell to the ground. He fired at the other Grunts, who also fell, but the Brute charged at him. The Rookie fired at it with his M7S, but the SMG couldn't penetrate it's armour.

Just as it jumped on top of the car, a sniper round hit it in the head, and it collapsed. The Rookie looked at it, dumbfounded. _"Where the hell did that come from?" _he thought. Then, out of the shadows, came the source of the bullet. It was a marine, cradling a SRS-100 silenced sniper rifle in her hands. The Rookie stared at her. "Umm... hi." "Hi," she replied. "Thanks for saving my ass back there," the Rookie said. "You're welcome." "So, how long have you been in the city for?" "Since the carrier turned up. My squad's objective was to help a SPARTAN take the carrier. They got wasted when the carrier jumped." "Did you see any other pods come down?"

She thought for a moment." Yeah, something came down in Tayari Plaza." "Where's that?" The marine thought for a moment. "I'll take you. I haven't got anything else to do." The Rookie nodded. "Thanks. What's your name, by the way?" "Private Ellen Williams, at your service. Your name?" The Rookie thought for a moment. "Sorry, ONI would go nuts if I told you. I don't want to get out of this place, just to get shot by some spook. Did I mention that there's a spook in my squad?" Ellen grinned. "A man with secrets, eh? Well, what can I call you then?" "Just call me the Rookie." Ellen frowned. "That's encouraging," she muttered.

They set off to Tayari Plaza. After several minutes, they came across a Covenant patrol. The Rookie looked at Ellen. "You take the Brute, I'll take the Grunts." She nodded, and took aim at the Brute. The Rookie aimed at the Grunts with his M6C/SOCOM. He looked at Ellen, and nodded. They opened fire simultaneously, and the Covenant fell to the ground with strangled gasps.

The Rookie walked over to the Covenant. "That was easy," he said. "Thanks, Captain Obvious," Ellen replied. "Hey-" The Rookie heard something. "What's that?" Ellen looked around. "What's what?" The Rookie listened for a bit, then ran over to a nearby public phone kiosk. Coins were pouring out of. And writing on the screen read "FREE DOWNLOAD". As the Rookie looked on, it changed to "MAPS", then "NEED HELP FINDING LOST ITEMS?" "No way," the Rookie whispered to himself. He pulled a cord out of the back of his helmet, and plugged the jack into the phone booth. It immediately downloaded all the information of where the other ODSTs had landed, and a map with the locations of weapon depots around the city. The Rookie turned to Ellen. "Let's get to Tayari."


End file.
